Fish-Eye Lens (Con't)
Though they moved back to the U.S. and settled in Richmond, Virginia, Rathgeb has never really left the islands. She returns to Turks and Caicos often throughout the year—staying for about a month each time—and otherwise gets her fill of paradise through her weekly blog, “An island life/a writing life.”
And she has plenty of experience with dual lives, for when it comes to the cultural differences between American and island life, Rathgeb can attest, “There are lots!” Island life is “a very personal way of life…islands are surrounded by water—people are in each other’s faces a lot,” she says.
As Rathgeb dubs it, theirs is a “language of gossip.” This language is reflected in her book, which is written in the style of a documentary transcript. Each chapter is an interview with one of the very candid, often humorous island residents, as the book’s protagonist tries to root out the real story of how the community came together to oust a greedy developer intent on paving paradise.
Says Rathgeb, “You can hear a story a zillion ways depending on who you’re talking to.” So when it comes to her characters, Rathgeb gives them strong ties to both the islands and the U.S. to make up for the cultural divide. “I was easing my way into an island voice,” she says of this decision. “I wanted the mixture. I wanted [to convey] the way people do blend there.”
Rathgeb’s writing is often featured in Times of the Islands, a Turks and Caicos magazine. She has also written many short stories about island life. Most recently, she took part in National Novel Writing Month, an annual event that challenges people to write 50,000 words of a novel in the month of November.
Fish-Eye Lens is Rathgeb’s first novel. In addition to being an entertaining read, its colorful portrayal of island community and its nod to environmental preservation will stick with readers long after they put it down. Rathgeb hopes her book will remind visitors to paradise that “there is a life already there.”
Rathgeb and her husband hope to return to this life in the future and plan on ultimately retiring for at least six months a year to North Caicos, where island life and its “language of gossip” can continue to inspire her writing.
And she has plenty of experience with dual lives, for when it comes to the cultural differences between American and island life, Rathgeb can attest, “There are lots!” Island life is “a very personal way of life…islands are surrounded by water—people are in each other’s faces a lot,” she says.
As Rathgeb dubs it, theirs is a “language of gossip.” This language is reflected in her book, which is written in the style of a documentary transcript. Each chapter is an interview with one of the very candid, often humorous island residents, as the book’s protagonist tries to root out the real story of how the community came together to oust a greedy developer intent on paving paradise.
Says Rathgeb, “You can hear a story a zillion ways depending on who you’re talking to.” So when it comes to her characters, Rathgeb gives them strong ties to both the islands and the U.S. to make up for the cultural divide. “I was easing my way into an island voice,” she says of this decision. “I wanted the mixture. I wanted [to convey] the way people do blend there.”
Rathgeb’s writing is often featured in Times of the Islands, a Turks and Caicos magazine. She has also written many short stories about island life. Most recently, she took part in National Novel Writing Month, an annual event that challenges people to write 50,000 words of a novel in the month of November.
Fish-Eye Lens is Rathgeb’s first novel. In addition to being an entertaining read, its colorful portrayal of island community and its nod to environmental preservation will stick with readers long after they put it down. Rathgeb hopes her book will remind visitors to paradise that “there is a life already there.”
Rathgeb and her husband hope to return to this life in the future and plan on ultimately retiring for at least six months a year to North Caicos, where island life and its “language of gossip” can continue to inspire her writing.